876 



SCIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 234. 



subject. Dies have been prepared by Thomas 

 Moring, of London, from which a medal in 

 bronze will be struck annually for this purpose. 

 Wm. H. Hobbs. 



toeeey botanical club, march 29, 1899. 



The first paper was by Francis E. Lloyd, on 

 'The Functions of the Suspensor,' and was 

 illustrated by drawings and a series of micro- 

 scopes exhibiting slides. 



Mr. Lloyd described the structure of the sus- 

 pensor typical of the genera Galium, Asperula, 

 Vaillantia, etc., and showed that haustoria are 

 formed which absorb food from the endosperm. 

 The large basal cell of Capsella was shown also to 

 possess a function quite similar, because, as the 

 preparations showed, the basal cell destroys the 

 tissue of the inner integument in its vicinity 

 and thus becomes imbedded in it. 



The second paper was by Mrs. E. G. Britton, 

 on 'The Ferns of the Eastern United States,' 

 illustrated by the stereopticon. 



Mrs. Britton exhibited mounted specimens of 

 all the rarer ferns of the Eastern States, many 

 of them of her own collection, giving the range 

 of each species. She also exhibited lantern 

 slides made from photographs of these ferns 

 taken as they grow. Those of the maiden-hair, 

 hart's tongue and beech-fern were taken from 

 the fernery in the New York Botanical Garden ; 

 five of them were views from the Catskill 

 Mountains taken by Mr. Van Brunt ; Mr. Hulst 

 contributed one from Lake George, and Mr. 

 Lorenz five from Willoughby Lake, Vt. Others 

 were Adirondack views taken by Stoddard. 

 Mrs. Britton stated that she would continue to 

 fill in the omissions where she had not been 

 able to obtain photographs, and hoped to com- 

 plete her collection in the future. She expressed 

 the hope that as the interest in ferns increases, 

 the love of them would likewise grow, and that 

 the rarer ones would not be exterminated by 

 useless transplanting to locations where they 

 will not survive. It was stated that thus far 

 Rutland county, Vermont, shows the greatest 

 number of ferns of any county in the Eastern 

 States, having 42 species and 10 varieties. 

 There are seldom more than 20 species in any 

 locality, except where there is a great variety 

 of soil and habitat, as at Jamesville, N. Y., 



where Professor Underwood has found 34 spe- 

 cies. Long Island has 25 and Staten Island 23 

 species. 



In further illustration, the Torrey Club col- 

 lection of ferns and many sheets from the Co- 

 lumbia collection were exhibited, also a series 

 of photographs from Professor Atkinson, show- 

 ing the variations produced by cultivation of 

 Onoclea sensihilis. 



An exhibit to illustrate Onoclea sensihilis in 

 in the fossil state was also furnished by Dr. 

 Hollick, being of special interest as the only 

 living species which is actually found fossil. 



Mr. William A. Lawrence, of Hartford, Conn, 

 was introduced by Dr. Rusby, as one who had 

 collected 34 species of ferns about Willoughby 

 Lake, Vt. Mr. Lorenz described the lake and 

 neighboring cliffs, with the illustration of lan- 

 tern slides, and spoke of the hundreds of plants 

 of Woodsia glabella flourishing there close to 

 gether, fruiting at one inch or at six inches. 

 In the sunshine it becomes more leathery, as if 

 passing into W. ht/perborea. Mr. Lorenz also 

 finds Aspidium spiiiulosum dilatatum reverting 

 there to the type of the species. 



Dr. Rusby and Dr. A. R. Grout also described 

 their visits to Willoughby Lake. 



Mr. W. A. Clute exhibited several fronds of 

 Dryopteris simulata, collected by him at Babylon, 

 L. I., last summer, and pointed out a distinc- 

 tion from D. Thelypteris in the fact that each 

 pinna of D. simulata is not of uniform breadth 

 but broader near the middle. It fruits chiefly 

 in the shade, B. Thelypteris in the sun. 



Dr. Rusby spoke of the beauty of the ferns 

 on the mountain slopes near Plainfield, N. J., 

 and of the localities near there for Asplenium 

 ehenoides, Cystopteris fragilis and Cheilanthes 

 lanuginosa. 



Mr. Clute remarked that he had collected 16 

 species of ferns within a mile of Fort Lee, and 

 59 species are now growing at the Botanic 

 Garden. Edward S. Burgess, 



Secretary. 



ZOOLOGICAL CLUB, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO — 



MEETINGS OF WINTER AND SPRING 



QUARTERS, 1899. 



Ovarian Structure in an Abnormal Pigeon. — 

 The bird in question was the offspring of a 



